My recommendaton is to figure out which yeast you want, and plan to use for your brews and ship them over and then start growing your own. There are tons of resources out there, it just depends on what method you want to use. You can also harvest yeast from some commercial beers, there are a couple youtube videos out there that can help you out. I just started using yeast slants, and already got healthy yeast growing. Don't have much experience with washing yeast.

Pros: cheap, and can make alot
Cons: Chance of mutations, risk of infection in cultures.